Capitalism is NOT a Bad Word
In the early 60s when I was born and throughout my childhood, the term socialism was never viewed as a good thing, as least in our family's social circles. In fact, it was always referred to as "unAmerican" or "unpatriotic". I mean, come on, America is the model of capitalism, meaning, an economic system whereby businesses and assets are owned privately.
America was formed under and has largely flourished because of the idea that individuals have the liberty and freedom to pursue their own ideas in business or industry and, if successful, enjoy its corresponding prosperity.
On the other hand, in a socialist society, the government chooses what you should have from a limited supply it decides should exist. Instead of millions of individuals making their own decisions about what they want, a much smaller group of government elites decide what people should have and how much the cost should be for it. Generally, socialism is concerned with redistributing resources from the more wealthy citizens to the poorer.
During the 2016 Presidential campaign, one of the Democrat candidates, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, boldly campaigned for the implementation of policies under the umbrella of democratic socialism. In spite of the fact that every nation on earth in all of human history that has implemented socialism has failed (miserably), Senator Sanders successfully acquired the support of millions of American citizens, mostly ages 18-35. More recently, there has been an increase in the number of politicians embracing this same sort of democratic socialism, promising free healthcare, free college education, free housing, free income, and many other free things. Specifically, it is nearly every Democrat candidate that embraces these policies. Sadly, though, all of these candidates decry capitalism while enjoying the very benefits that capitalism has provided for them.
Researchers estimate that these policies, along with those pushing an anti-global warming agenda, would conservatively cost $90 TRILLION dollars! The real truth to this is that there is no such thing to free anything! All of the free things these candidates are campaigning for are unsustainable and would ultimately bankrupt our nation. Someone has to pay for this. That someone would be you and me, forcing us to pay it in the form of ever increasing taxes.
Just this past week, the aforementioned Senator Sanders, when pressed, had to admit that it's "free at the point of delivery" and that "of course, someone has to pay for it". He then hesitantly admitted that taxes would have to be raised.
If you're an American citizen, capitalism has benefitted you in many different ways. Since President Trump took office and began implementing his policies, here are just a few of the impacts made on our economy and nation:
we have enjoyed the largest income tax break in our nation's history
corporate tax rates have finally been reduced to a world-competitive 21%
our unemployment rate has dropped to a 50-year low of 3.8%
the unemployment rate for minorities is at all-time historical lows
our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate is nearly double that of the Obama administration
the number of folks receiving federal government assistance has decreased by nearly 8 million
the labor participation rate has dramatically increased
the Consumer Confidence Index is much higher
All of these are results of capitalism, NOT socialism.
So the next time you hear a politician spout about all the free stuff we'll all get under democratic socialism, remember that nothing's free and thank the Lord for the liberty we enjoy under capitalism!
